#riverways

#onthetrail #mthood #riverways

Source

As we head into August, we would like to finally introduce the other half of our River Ambassadors. It’s been a crazy month of July, full of field trips, fishing, water testing, mussel and wetland maintenance, and more! 

“My name is Kennedy. I was born on January 25 of 2003. I have always been known for having an energetic and outgoing personality. I love a good joke thus enjoy laughing. To be honest, I laugh at anything. I always try to make time for my family, friends, and myself of course. My favorite activities are volleyball, cheer, and I enjoy reading a good book. I am an aspiring criminal defense lawyer who desires to travel across the world. leaving behind a memorable name for myself. To talk more about myself. I am a strong young woman who takes pride in herself, and what I have made of myself so far. And I plan to continue to strive for my goals.”

“My name is Nevaeh and I am in 11th grade now. I like flowers. And I am happy to be a River Ambassador.”

“Hi my name is Jose and I am going into 10th grade next year. My favorite subject is History, and I am looking forward to the rest of the summer.”  

“ Hi, I am Kadidia and I’m a second year river ambassador. I wanted to participate in this program again because I enjoyed the experiences and the people I had worked with before. I enjoy learning about new things especially within the science and history subjects and I hope to become a pharmaceutical scientist in the future.”

Romeo is another one of our returning River Ambassadors! He will be a senior in high school this upcoming year. We are happy to have him back. He is definitely our resident goof ball. 

This is Carmen’s first year as a River Ambassador, but she has experience with ISM an an EAGLE. She is always eager to try things out! If the camera is pointed at her, she is always ready with a big smile. 

Andy is another of our returning River Ambassadors! We are thrilled to have him back. He will also be a senior in high school this upcoming year. You can always catch him playing Pokemon Go! during down time. 

Aretha is a Returning Ambassador and an upcoming senior. She is a hard worker and always on her A game. We are excited to have her back. She is a great team leader and gets her peers to work! 

This is Bryanna’s first year as a River Ambassador, though she is a previous EAGLE. She is incredibly bright and adventurous. She doesn’t seem to mind to get in the water and mud! 

“On July 25th, 2019,

An exchange program between Independent Seaport Museum, Bartram’s Garden, and Urban Promise took place. From this picture, we were at the ISM learning about the history of the Delaware River. Our partners were given a task to clean the river as they took action in our interactive screen game. In the end, the river was purified and aquatic life was brought back by the powers of many who took action in the cleaning.

It was their first-time experience rowing in a kayak, we all had fun struggling to move around at first. Some were having fun splashing with water, while others enjoyed every bit of time they had on a kayak. Overall, the time we spent with each other on the water was not long but the memories will remain forever.” Andy 

“Last week we held our exchange which was very chill and nice. Bartram’s Garden and Urban Promise came to our museum and experienced what we (as river ambassadors) do at Seaport. It was very cool showing them how we go on about our day, with water testing, kayaking/rowing and even fishing!” Aretha 

It was a packed house!

“This picture is a moment captured from the ISM exchange. The sites, Urban Promise and Bartram’s Garden, came to the Independence Museum to join our River Ambassadors in doing activities including kayaking, modified water testing, and fishing!” Bryanna

 That following Saturday, River Ambassadors helped our community and volunteers label storm drains around Queen Village. Ambassadors split off into groups to make sure each storm drain was labeled on our map. All together, we labeled over 60 drains! Each label informs the public about storm drains, and how any illegal dumping leads straight into our river. 

With the beginning of August, the Ambassadors continued their normal routine of learning new lesson plans, checking on our freshwater mussels, taking care of our wetland plants, and teaching visitors. On the 1st of August, they traveled over to Bartram’s Garden, located in the Kingsessing neighborhood of Philadelphia, for their next Riverways Exchange. Kadidia and Kenaizha reflect on their experiences that day, below:

“On Wednesday, we had visited Bartram's Garden. The area had seemed very different from where the Seaport Museum is. It’s more secluded and has more of a green space [than the Museum]. During our time there, we were able to go rowing to collect samples for water testing. Their water is much more polluted than ours, and their way of water testing is much more complicated. After that, we were able to go on a tour of the garden and learned a bit about its history and how it was used by the inhabitants of the area.”

“[At Bartram’s Garden] we learned a lot about what the other interns do there and the history of the garden. There were some similarities of what we River Ambassadors do [and what] the students at Bartram's Garden do, such as row boats and do water testing. Some differences we’ve learned from them is their water testing is a lot more accurate and difficult, since they go to different parts of the water to test, save the water samples, and use high quality water testing tools. Another difference [between] their area [and] the Independence Seaport Museum is [that Bartram’s] is a less populated area--it is an urban area but with a very rural feeling.”

While going out on the Schuylkill River, the Ambassadors were also exposed to some major differences between our part of the Delaware River and this tributary. At Bartram’s, they were able to explore more of the area than we usually get an opportunity to at the Seaport in our protected basin. However, they were still confronted with industry on the river banks, as Bartram’s looks directly across the river at the oldest (still operational) oil refinery in the United States (hence why the water was so much more polluted!). 

However, they also got a glimpse of how nature persists in urban and industrial landscapes, when a young doe made her way onto the banks.

They also had a few fun experiences in the Garden itself, taking a ride on the engraved swing, trying out some mouth-numbing berries, and collecting rocks along the Schuylkill’s banks.